Frequently Asked Questions
Contact our Centre Manager on (08) 9291 3666 and arrange a conveniently scheduled guided tour to discuss your family’s needs and our current availability. You can obtain an enrolment pack that contains all the necessary information and forms to enrol your child.
Following enrolment at Pachamama Early Education and Childcare, parents are encouraged to join their child at the centre for an orientation session at least one week prior to their first day.
Attending a childcare centre for the first time can often be can be an anxious experience for a child (as well as a parent), and an orientation session is an important path of transition to minimise any stress that may be involved.
Scheduling an orientation session needs to be made in advance with Pachamama’s Centre Manager. During a child’s orientation, due to regulatory requirements, it will be necessary for a parent to remain on premises.
Our session availability changes from day-to-day and is dependent upon the services you require. You can obtain a waiting list form by contacting our Centre Manager on (08) 9291 3666.
Upon receipt of this completed form, we will register your requirements and contact you when your requested sessions become available.
Rest time is very important for young children to grow and participate fully in the activities at Pachamama. The babies in our nursery are encouraged to sleep according to their own schedule consistent with their patterns at home. For our toddlers to kindy children ages, rest time is scheduled for 12:00 – 1:30pm.
Older kindy children or school-aged children are encouraged to participate in rest time. If they developed to the stage where this rest period is not needed, they can relax on beanbags and undertake quiet activities such as reading books or playing quiet activities.
At our long day care, Pachamama has a general daily routine that can vary according to special activities that may be planned by our room leaders.
| 6:30am | Opens with quiet activities in the Nursery room |
| 7:00am | Breakfast (finishes at 7:30am) |
| 7:45am | Children escorted to their respective rooms for free play |
| 8:30am | Matt session with Educators, followed by washing hands |
| 9:00am | Morning snack |
| 9:30am | Outdoor play (weather permitting) or indoor activities |
| 10:30am | Nappies are changed |
| 10:45am | Mat session with Educators, followed by washing hands |
| 11:00am | Lunch |
| 12:00pm | Rest time |
| 1:30pm | Nappies are changed, followed by quiet activities and washing hands |
| 2:30pm | Afternoon tea |
| 3:00pm | Outdoor play (weather permitting) or indoor activities |
| 4:30pm | Nappies are changed, children prepared for home |
| 5:00pm | Quiet activities with other age groups (subject to age variance) |
| 5:30pm | Late snack |
| 6:30pm | Centre closes |
For the purpose of managing the health and safety of our children and Educators, it is necessary that an up-to-date copy of all children’s official immunisation records be supplied during enrolment and regularly maintained. Parents are required to provide Pachamama with a record of any updates when their children undertake further immunisations during their time with us.
We respect the choice not to immunize but, for the child’s safety, on the occasion that an outbreak of certain infectious diseases occur, children that are not immunised against these diseases will be excluded from attendance at the centre for pre-determined timeframes.
Please be advised that parents and guardians can only qualify for government benefits to support their child care costs if their child’s immunizations are up-to-date.
Yes. We have an experienced teaching team in our Kindy Room that includes a qualified Teacher and supporting Educators that deliver our 4 year old kindergarten program.
Pachamama’s Teacher works with your child to develop their skills and prepare them for pre-primary in a supportive play-based environment. We follow the Australian kindergarten curriculum, while also incorporating the Being Belonging and Becoming Early Years Learning Framework.
Pachamama connects with our local schools and introduces Pachamama children to their future teachers during an independent orientation program that we organise to support each child’s transition to primary school.
Pachamama provides all food served to children while they are with us. The weekly menu, designed by our Qualified Food Co-ordinator to be nutritious and tasty, is displayed on our Information Board in the foyer.
Due to health and safety considerations of the many children attending Pachamama with food allergies, only food purchased and prepared at Pachamama will be provided to children. Families are not allowed to bring food of any nature into the centre. (This does not apply to babies enjoying bottles with breast milk or infant formula).
Children with health-dependent dietary requirements will be catered for. It is vitally important that parents fully advise Pachamama of their children’s special needs on their Enrolment Form and keep our Centre Manager up-to-date in writing as your child grows and their needs change.
We have a trained and highly experienced on-site food manager who accommodates any special food requirements or allergies.
You will be required to complete the appropriate documentation to fully inform us of the situation and action plan, and all Educators will be notified in case of an emergency.
Pachamama has a ‘no food from home’ policy to ensure Educators always know what food is in the centre at any one time in order to minimise any emergencies.
Our ‘no food from home’ policy does not allow families to bring in food, cakes or lollies bags for birthdays. But, because we understand that celebrating milestones are an important part of every child’s development, we make a special effort to host birthday parties for our Pachamama children.
Our Food Manager bakes a cake specifically for the birthday child and our Educators provide age appropriate games and decorations. Each birthday child will receive a birthday gift and have photos taken and uploaded to their individual profiles to remind them of their special memories.
This is a special service that parents need to book in advance, for an additional cost.
Yes. With the My Family Lounge app you can log in and view Pachamama’s availability calendar allowing you to conveniently book a casual session at any time based on availability.
For ease of administration, please also use the My Family Lounge app to notify us when your child will be absent. The availability calendar is open for bookings up to four weeks in advance.
Routine bookings are maintained until you provide us with two weeks in advance written notice to cancel.
Casual bookings can be cancelled within 24 hours of making them. Otherwise, you are required to provide two weeks in advance written cancellation notice.
Please understand that this notice period is required to coincide with rostering requirements for our Educators and our need, as a quality service, to plan in advance for the consistent care for all children.
Once your enrolment process has been completed, Pachamama will receive your Child Care Subsidy from the Federal Government based on the information you supply through your MyGov account.
Based on your instructions, Pachamama will debit your account with your ‘gap amount’ through a third-party direct debit system two weeks in advance.
Booking a routine session means that you are reserving that regular session for your child. Therefore, we do require payment for holidays and absent days.
Casual sessions that you have booked require two weeks advance written notice to cancel without cost.
This policy is in place because we plan resources to fulfil our educational and national legal requirements dependant upon the number of children booked for a session. Child Care Subsidy is paid for up to 42 absent days in a financial year.
We use an online program called My Family Lounge to document each child’s learning.
Upon enrolment, you will receive log in details to a secured profile where you can view your child’s learning journey, which will include photos and activities. You have complete control over who can access this information.
Please advise Pachamama if you do not want photos of your child uploaded.
